Whoa!
Good grief, looking around, it was all girls.
Just as Sato was about to withdraw his gaze, he suddenly noticed this and turned to the Koshigaya sisters. "Where's Suguru?"
"You mean Nii-chan? He's probably at home watching anime."
Koshigaya Natsumi thought for a moment before answering.
"…I see."
Sato let out a small sigh, then began introducing both sides to each other.
With so many people, the introductions became quite a hassle. By the time he finished going from one end to the other, even Sato felt his throat dry out.
Fortunately, everyone had easygoing personalities, and with people like Fujimiya Konomi and Ritsu keeping the atmosphere lively, they quickly warmed up to each other after the introductions. That let him breathe a sigh of relief.
"Everyone, chat for now. I'll go make some tea!"
Sato stood up and headed toward the kitchen. As he entered, he saw Nohara Ginnosuke and Nohara Tsuru hiding there and instinctively took a step back.
"What are you two doing?"
He looked at them warily.
Don't tell me they've been hiding here eavesdropping the whole time.
Nohara Tsuru smiled and pointed at the counter. "I'm preparing tea and some snacks for you…"
Sato's gaze shifted to Nohara Ginnosuke. While his mom could be unreliable at times, she was usually normal. The real issue was this person…
"Haha! I'm making tea too!"
Nohara Ginnosuke scratched his thinning hair and said.
"My friends rarely come over. Dad, don't go causing any trouble for me!"
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him."
Nohara Tsuru said with a smile.
It'd better be like that…
Sato muttered to himself, then said, "I'll take the tea out."
"Wait!"
Nohara Tsuru stopped him, then asked with a smile, "Which one do you like?"
"Huh?"
Sato didn't react at first and looked confused.
Soon, his eyes widened as he stared at her, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Mom, you…"
Isn't this way too early?
Ignoring his reaction, Nohara Tsuru's eyes lit up as she continued on her own. "Is it the girl with the long black hair, or the one with the long blonde hair? Of course, the others are also quite nice. And… those two with the same hair color are sisters, right? The one with the ponytail should be the younger one. She looks a bit younger, but also quite capable."
What is she even talking about?
Sato felt his head start to ache and couldn't help but argue, "Mom, we're just ordinary friends."
Nohara Tsuru rolled her eyes at him. "Before becoming a couple, who isn't just ordinary friends?"
"And actually, I think Konomi-chan is pretty good too! I've watched that child grow up with you. She probably likes you. Or maybe Hikage, Komari…"
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Sato held his forehead, exasperated. "At this rate, are you going to start bringing up Natsumi and Hotaru too?"
"Mom, I'm still in high school. I'm still young. Can we talk about this later and just let things happen naturally?"
"Yes, you're still young…"
Nohara Tsuru suddenly let out a long sigh and said slowly, "But your dad and I are no longer young…"
"I wonder if we'll even live to see you get married and have children."
For some reason, the atmosphere suddenly grew heavy, and Sato fell silent for a moment.
Nohara Ginnosuke and Nohara Tsuru were indeed no longer young. Above Sato, there were already two older brothers. He was the youngest in the family.
Even so, they were only in their fifties. With his help and a few measures, living to a hundred would not be a problem. Unfortunately, Nohara Tsuru didn't know that, and perhaps something had crossed her mind, leaving her a bit sentimental.
After thinking it over, Sato decided to move past this topic.
"I'll think about it…"
He walked to the counter, picked up the prepared tea, and headed out.
After watching Sato leave, the previously silent Nohara Ginnosuke suddenly grinned. "As expected of you, old lady, you've got your ways!"
Nohara Tsuru wore a faint smile, with none of the earlier sadness left.
Looking outside, she said thoughtfully, "After all, he didn't react at all to so many girls before. I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with him mentally."
"But now that he's brought so many girls back this time, there shouldn't be any problem…"
Fortunately, Sato had already reached the living room. Otherwise, hearing this conversation would have made him cough up blood.
There was nothing wrong with him mentally, and his preferences were perfectly normal, alright? He just wasn't interested in those things for the time being.
…
When Sato brought the tea into the living room, he found that nearly all the conversation revolved around him.
The girls from Asahigaoka were talking about his time there, while the Light Music Club girls were talking about his time at school.
"Everyone, the tea's here!"
Sato placed cups in front of each person one by one. Just then, he heard Ritsu speaking passionately about school.
"Sato has lots of other friends at school too, and they're all beautiful girls! For example, the Service Club president, Yukinoshita Yukino! She's an icy beauty known as the Snow Woman!"
"She doesn't give other boys the time of day, but she can chat and laugh with Sato!"
"And then that day… the school's acknowledged beauty, Sawamura Spencer Eriri. Just hearing the name sounds impressive, right?!"
"That's right! She's a mixed-blood beauty! I heard she's the daughter of a British diplomat. She walked right in and dragged Sato away!"
"To this day, we still don't know what happened that day!"
"And then another day! Guess what happened?"
"A third-year senior, the school's top beauty, Kasumigaoka-senpai, also barged into our clubroom and dragged Sato away!"
"We still don't know what happened after that either!"
"And besides that…"
Clack!
A cup of tea was set down heavily in front of Ritsu. The tea inside sloshed, startling her mid-speech.
When she looked up at Sato, he gave her a gentle smile and said, "The tea's here. Ritsu, take your time drinking it. Remember, don't… choke."
Huh?
How could tea make someone choke? Sato is so weird!
"So many girls… I didn't expect you to be this impressive, Sato."
Fujimiya Konomi looked at him with a half-smile.
"Senpai…"
Hirasawa Ui looked a bit downcast.